Saturday, July 4, 2009

In an uncharacteristically harshly worded press release Friday, Lisa Murkowski, the senior Senator from Alaska, had this to say about Sarah Palin's announcement that she just isn't that into being Alaska's anymore:

“I am deeply disappointed that the Governor has decided to abandon the State and her constituents before her term has concluded.”

A word to Sarah: If you have some sort of legal scandal brewing, don't expect any favors from Lisa... and if it's her Senate seat you're eying, she'll happily mop the floor with you. Trust me on this.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Today, the Anchorage Daily News has a short article noting that two of Alaska's top health officials are leaving their jobs.

Alaska's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jay Butler (he left Health and Social Services on June 22) and Public Health Division Director Bev Wooley.

I don't know why either of them left their jobs, but in the case of Wooley, something just doesn't smell right here.

Last week Wooley emailed her staff, noting that she was leaving "per Governor Palin's request."

But Sharon Leighow, the Governor's spokesperson, denied that. She said the governor was NOT involved in Wooley's departure.

Huh. Methinks that someone's not telling the truth here.

Based on our past experience with Governor Sarahcakes, which one do YOU think it is?

Me too.

Wish I knew the real story.

UPDATE:

An alert commenter pointed out that there's more to this story, and it can be found at the Juneau Empire:

... Wooley's departure may have been related to conflicts between Palin's anti-abortion views and state health staff's reluctance to present medical information they believed was inaccurate about a bill requiring parental consent for abortion.

Pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

Remember When Sarahcuda was Mayor of Wasilla, and she wanted to fire the librarian who thought banning books was a bad idea?

Yep, it's a Palin "loyalty" issue.

h/t to Maeve

UPDATE 2: WOOLEY SPEAKS!

Well, the ADN now has an article telling us what was already surmised: another Palin "loyalty" casualty.

The first: Why is it that a late-night host of a comedy show is still doing the job responsible journalists should be doing?

The second: As far as Glenn Beck and the cabal of shrill, insane, fear-mongering asshats go - including O'Reilly, Hannity, Malkin, Limbaugh, Coulter... how long will it be before America finally says ENOUGH?

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

In an interesting case from Pennsylvania, federal District Judge Christopher C. Conner has ruled that that state Ethics Act's ban on publicizing filings against state officials is likely unconstitutional.

In the Pennsylvania case, the State Ethics Commission not only dismissed the complaint, they fined the complainant, Gene Stilp, $500 for violating the act by publicizing the filing of his complaint.

While Stilp admitted he broke the "no publicity" requirement of the law, he also filed a suit to stop the commission from enforcing that part of it, claiming it violated his First Amendment rights.

Federal Judge Connor agreed with that, and thinks that stifling such publication may well be a violation of Mr. Stilp's right to free speech.

In his opinion, Connor said such a prohibition in the Pennsylvania law "cuts too broad a swath of the First Amendment field."

In typical legislative cover-your-ass fashion, Alaska's ethics law also currently prohibits publicizing an ethics complaint made by anyone against a legislator. If publicized, the complaint isdismissed- even if it may be valid.

Representative Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage (an ardent Palinista), wants to expand this law so that publicizing ethics violation complaints against the executive branch (can you say Sarah Palin?) will result in the immediate dismissal of the complaint as well.

Mr. Lynn says this is the epitome of fairness, but it is in fact a blatant attempt to discourage citizens from holding elected officials accountable.

Now, I'm no legal expert, but it appears to me that if Judge Connor is correct, Alaska's current law may already be unconstitutional.